Kenya's ODI Batting Averages 2006 So Far

After looking at how Kenya's players had fared in the rankings last night, it got me wondering about what the stats said about the performance of our batsmen.

going on runs scored, the top achiever is, not unexpectedly, Steve Tikolo who has hit 231 runs so far. Mishra is next on 196, and Kennedy Otieno third with 177. Of those three, Tikolo has been the most dangerous when he has got started, twice going on to record big half centuries. Kennedy Otieno had a great tour of Zimbabe, but failed utterly in Bangladesh. Hopefully, he will bounce back to form against Holland. He certainly has the quality to do so. Tanmay Mishra has been Kenya's steadiest batsman so far over the two series. He has had a couple of failures, but for the most part has got himself off to a solid start. If he could go on to convert these, he could develope into a very dangerous batsman indeed for Kenya. Unfortunately for Mishra, he is consistently coming in down the order where in an ODI he often has not had the chance he deserves to really build an innings. Again, hopefully this changes soon. There are a couple more efforts I would like to draw attention to. First is Collins Obuya, who unfortunately only batted the last two matches against Bangladesh. He scored 90 runs from those outings to give him by far the strongest average, 45 at a strike rate of 78. his bowling may have slipped in the last couple of years, but his batting is certainly something to be optimistic about. Tikolo averages next highest with 33, but has the highest strike rate, at almost 90. If he can get himself settled, he is still Kenya's best attacking option. We look to big things from him against Holland. Toni Suji comes in third in terms of strike rate, but note that this is heavilt influenced by the last match against Bangladesh where he batted at 7. Batting higher up the order, he fared a lot worse. Something the selectors should take note of. Lastly, a note of congratulation to Alfred Luseno. No. 11s are often the victims of ridicule about their batting, and the ease with wich they give their wickets away. So far, from 4 outings, Alfred is yet to be dismissed, and has hit 17 runs at a strike rate of 94. Maybe some of the batsmen higher up the order should try to follow suit. So far, not one of the top or middle order batsmen has carried their bat - a major reason why Kenya is not getting the big scores it needed to win matches. Again, hopefully something that will change on Wednesday.

Here are the stats for Kenya's batsmen so far this year, I have highlighted in bold the top three in terms of runs, avg and strike rate:

Batsman..Inngs..Not out..Runs..Avg......Bls Fcd..Str Rte

S.Tikolo.....7...........0..........231...33.00....257........89.88
T.Mishra...8...........0..........196...24.50....303........64.69
K.Otieno....7...........0..........177...25.29....301.........58.80
T.Odoyo.....8..........0..........146...18.25.....224........65.18
A.Suji.........7..........0..........142...20.29....189.........75.13
H.Modi......4..........0..........103...25.75.....172.........59.88
C.Obuya....2..........0...........90....45.00....115..........78.26
D.Obuya....6..........0..........90.....15.00.....206........43.69
J.Kamande.8.........2..........87.....14.50.....133..........65.41
P.Ongondo..8........2..........68......11.33......102........66.67
M.Ouma.....6.........0..........38......6.33......105..........36.19
M.Suji........3..........0..........19......6.33.......49...........38.78
A.Luseno....4.........4...........17......17*.........18...........94.44
B.Patel.......4..........1...........11.......3.67.......47...........23.40
K.Patel.......2..........1...........1........1.00.......4.............25.00
J.Ababu.....1..........0...........1........1.00.......7.............14.29
N.Odhiambo.1......1............0........0*.........0.............N/A